The inspiration for his blog came in a person walking into my room last week and looking at a very nice plaque (you know the kind where it says really something beautiful and poetic that makes you think about your life...those ones) next to a picture of a very nice cross-stitched picture of Ryan Gosling, and they mentioned that they were struck by those two things being placed side by side on my desk. They said, "Well, that says something about you." I hadn't thought of it until she'd said it, but it does. I love beautiful writing and believe wholeheartedly in the power of "a word fitly spoken" being "like apples of gold in settings of silver"...really, I do! I hardly even know what it is saying, but I love it so much I can barely stand that I didn't come up with it! It speaks to me and it makes me choose my words carefully, but I also love a good Ryan Gosling meme in the morning to give me a chuckle, especially the ones about education. I know I am biased, but they are the most hilarious. It is my duality on a desk, folks. This encounter was someone else commenting on what a lot of people have said to me in the course of my career about my personality extremes at work in the classroom.
"Hey Girl, I know you love inspirational messages on plaques.
So I wrote you a few myself and called it "The Notebook".
For instance, I am a documenter. It's sort of like a dementor, but I only really torture myself. I save EVERYTHING from the (death by) Power Point slides I show students, to examples of student work. My binder that has EVERYTHING in it is a huge 4 inch that I have to wear an ace bandage to open because it is so full and it is January, so I will need two this year. My documenting can really only be rivaled by my Classroom DJ skills as I have play lists saved on my computer for EVERYTHING from Luau music to songs about St. Augustine, Florida. People are struck by the depth of both of these collections, shall I say, but they are glimpses into the two very different parts of my personality that speak to who I am as an educator. The documentation is there to prove that I am doing my job and making every attempt to be "highly effective" at it, but the music is there so that my students know that Mrs. Walker knows how to get her groove on, and will do so if Bon Jovi comes on to teach us about metaphorical language through song. "Tommy used to work on the docks!" Let's talk about theme, kids!
Last year, at the end of the school year I had the kids fill out report cards on me. I was not particularly scared about what some kids would say, but a child that I felt like I had just not been able to get through to like I wanted to, filled out her report card about the most memorable thing that she had learned that year, and she wrote, "I learned that my teacher will dress up and embarrass herself to make money." Pause, hold on... wait, don't go there....in the words of Inigo Montoya, "Let me s'plain...there is not time...let me sum up..."a team of kids I was an Odyssey of the Mind Coach for, was headed to a Florida competition, and we were trying to raise funds to go so I participated in "Teacher Torture" where students would put money in a jar for a teacher to get tortured for the day. Yes, I was chosen for this esteemed honor and my torture was to dress as a baby for the day, and that I was only allowed to use "baby words" all day long. Now, my kids thought this was torture, but nay, how wrong they were! That day I wore jammies to school, passed random students all day long and said "HI,HI,HI,HI" repeatedly to freak them out, and I even got to throw a tantrum on the morning announcements. It. was. beautiful. I called this student over and asked her why that was so memorable and her answer was simple. "That you'd do that for us." I ugly cried the ugly cry because as a teacher we do a lot in private that we know is for our students, but it is not always evident to them, or their parents, or the legislature, or anyone else that we are doing it. For whatever reason, the day I was a baby for money is what got through to that girl that I'd do pretty much anything to be the very best teacher she ever had. There again is my duality. I spent that whole week coming up with highly integrated, high level of complexity, differentiated instruction, but it was my willingness to wear a onesie in public (and to the grocery store, but that is another story) that meant something to a child. There is something wonderful and simple about that. That was a day where being both a wave and a particle made an unexpected difference to a kid.
Best. Day. Ever.
Back to my desk decor. More children have asked me why Ryan Gosling is on my desk then have asked me why a Justin Beiber song is in the middle of their Writing Music (all classical, calming, beautiful) play list, but the answer is, "To get your attention and give you a non-verbal signal to stop and proofread right then what you have already written." It works, and to this day kids still think about checking their writing when they hear "Baby, baby, baby, ohhhhhhhhh...." I cannot say if this is a good or bad thing, but at least they remember something from this classroom.
Whatever works, right?
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